Standup Comedy versus Diabetes

Last night before doing standup comedy my blood sugar went down to 80mcg.

For the past week my blood sugars have been nuts — up and down, up and down. I believe that the reason for such fluctuations was that I stopped exercise walking. As soon as I started up again yesterday I saw immediate effects. They fell into normal ranges.

My Dexcom helped a lot by showing me the reading of 80 mcg. This was not a convenient time or place to test. My friend Joy said, “isn’t that kind of low?” She was right and I took action. My mental calculator started ticking. I knew that it would be another 10-15 minutes before I got on and off stage ( a 5 minute set). I took two glucose tabs, washed them down with some club soda and ordered a piece of plain cheesecake. Not the best choice for a diabetic but this place has “bar food,” lots of fried stuff which my system can’t tolerate. So I went for plain cheesecake without the raspberry sauce. I had a few fork fulls prior to my set and made it through okay.

I often wonder if I get to the point when I am performing for more than 10 minutes, how will I control my sugars? My rule of thumb: test first, then act on it. If my blood sugars are too high, bolus some insulin (or give yourself an injection) with maybe 1/2 or 3/4 the dose–that is if you’re performing. If blood sugars are too low, eat something with carbs or drink a sweetened cola- not diet. Don’t overdo it. Then get up there on stage and have a blast! Be sure to test right after the performance.

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